Home & + | Search
Featured Categories: Special Focus | Performance Reviews | Previews | DanceSpots | Arts and Education | Press Releases
Join ExploreDance.com's email list | Mission Statement | Copyright notice | The Store | Calendar | User survey | Advertise
Click here to take the ExploreDance.com user survey.
Your anonymous feedback will help us continue to bring you coverage of more dance.
SPOTLIGHT:
DANCESPOTS
ExploreDance.com (Magazine)
Web
Other Search Options
Natalie Laruccia
DanceSpots
Argentine Tango
Salon Canning
Argentina
Buenos Aires, OT (Argentina)

Salon Canning - Argentine Tango in Buenos Aires

by Natalie Laruccia
September 25, 2008
Salon Canning
Scalabrini Ortiz Avenue 1331
(between Cabrera and Gorriti in Palermo)
Buenos Aires, OT (Argentina)
Omar Viola: the organizer
www.parakultural.com.ar

Different nights the same milonga changes names depending on the organizer. You'll see that it's sometimes called Parakultural and sometimes it's called Salon Canning but it's the exact same milonga.

Monday: Parakultural
10:30-11:30pm tango class.
10:30 till around 4:30am
$15 pesos entrance fee.

Tuesday: Parakultural
10:30-11:30pm tango class.
10:30 till around 4:30am
$15 pesos entrance fee.

Thursday: Salon Canning
10:30-11:30pm tango class.
10:30 till around 4:30am
$15 pesos entrance fee.

Friday: Parakultural
10:30-11:30pm tango class.
10:30 till around 4:30am
$15 pesos entrance fee.

Saturday: Salon Canning
10:30-11:30pm tango class.
10:30 till around 4:30am
$15 pesos entrance fee.

The history of the street that Salon Canning is located on is quite interesting in itself. It's on Scalabrini Ortiz Avenue, which used to be called Canning street, hence the name Salon Canning. What few tourists and foreigners are aware of is that the streets of Buenos Aires often changed names depending on who had political control and power over the country. To this day you will still ocassionally hear an older Argentinean tell the cab driver to take them to Canning street.

Salon Canning is a milonga situated in the center of Buenos Aires in the neighborhood of Palermo in the Armenian district. It's touted as having one of the top dance floors in the city, which is no exaggeration as most milongas are located in "clubes de barrios", local neighborhood clubs where they give boxing lessons and children play basketball and other sports after school and the floors are generally made of tile or cement.

It's a beautiful milonga with high ceilings, a wood carved bar and differerent expositions of art and photography decorating the walls displaying different artists every month. When you enter from the street you pass through a long dark narrow hallway which is covered in tango photography and at the doorway you can check your coat and buy tango memorabilia. The entrance fee is $15 pesos ($5 dollars) and you must call ahead of time to make a reservation for a table. Generally they don't pick up the phone until after 7pm and they ask that you show up to claim your table by 11 or 11:30pm at the latest or you will lose your reservation and it's unlikely to get another table until people start to leave around 3 in the morning. In the lady's bathroom there's always someone selling tango dresses and skirts, mints, gum, nail polish and hairpins. They also hold the toilet paper hostage. So either carry toilet paper with you, or you can tip the woman working in the bathroom a few pesos. It's customary to tip her, even the Argentineans continue with this custom, as she does make her living this way. It's expected to tip 1 or 2 pesos to the women working inside the bathroom and to the waitress that attends your table.

Generally there's a tango class that is offered before the milonga begins and although those with reservations must be there by 11:30pm the milonga doesn't start to fill up until 12:30am and people will start to leave after 3:30am so do as the Argentineans do and take a cat nap before going to the milonga. Monday nights and Friday nights are when it's most packed and at peak hours it's like riding the 6 train during rush hour. Tuesday night is a good night to go as there's not as many people but plenty of good dancers and the other nights are a little calmer. They almost always have a small tango show or performance around 2 in the morning and often Tuesday nights a live orchestra plays. Salon Canning is best described as elegant, old-world, classy, with a mix of young and old, local and foreign and a must-see place to visit on your next trip to Buenos Aires.

Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia



Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia


Photo © & courtesy of Natalie Laruccia

Search for articles by
Performance Reviews, Places to Dance, Fashion, Photography, Auditions, Politics, Health